What will Bill Cosby's new TV show look like? Us

By Todd Leopold, CNN

Updated 3:26 PM ET, Thu January 23, 2014

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

'The Cosby Show': Where are they now? – After playing Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," Bill Cosby starred in "The Cosby Mysteries," "Cosby" and hosted "Kids Say the Darnedest Things" on top of starring in a number of films. Now, one of America's favorite TV dads and comedians is returning to TV with a new family sitcom. See what the rest of the "Cosby Show" cast has been up to:

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

Tempestt Bledsoe – We've missed having Tempestt Bledsoe in our living rooms since she played "The Cosby Show's" Vanessa Huxtable. We had her back temporarily in 2012 with NBC's short-lived "Guys With Kids," on which the actress played a working, no-nonsense mom like her former TV mother Clair Huxtable.

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

Phylicia Rashad – Phylicia Rashad, who played mom Clair, teamed up with her on-screen hubby again for "Cosby" and guest-starred on "Touched by an Angel" and "Everybody Hates Chris." Rashad hit the big screen in 2010's "Just Wright" and "For Colored Girls." She earned a Tony Award in 2004 for her role in "A Raisin in the Sun." She's also moved into directing for the stage, and led a production of "Fences" in January 2014.

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

Malcolm-Jamal Warner – When Malcolm-Jamal Warner's run as Theo Huxtable ended, the actor lent his voice to the popular educational cartoon "The Magic School Bus." He's starred in series including "Malcolm & Eddie," "Jeremiah" and "Listen Up," and released two albums. In recent years, he's popped up everywhere from "The Michael J. Fox Show" to TNT's "Closer" spinoff, "Major Crimes."

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

Lisa Bonet – Lisa Bonet appeared in "Enemy of the State," "High Fidelity" and "Biker Boyz" after her turn as Denise Huxtable. She'll next appear in the drama "Road to Paloma" with husband Jason Momoa. Bonet and her daughter with Lenny Kravitz, Zoë, have appeared in "It's Kind of a Funny Story" and "X-Men: First Class."

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

Sabrina Le Beauf – Sabrina Le Beauf had roles in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Cosby" and the animated series "Fatherhood" after playing Sondra Huxtable on the NBC series. In 2009, she played Leila in the thriller "The Stalker Within."

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

Keshia Knight Pulliam – In 1986, at just 6 years old, Keshia Knight Pulliam received an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actress for her role as Rudy Huxtable. She appeared in 2005's "Beauty Shop" and "The Gospel," as well as 2009's "Madea Goes to Jail." She played Miranda on Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" and competed on reality shows like "Celebrity Fear Factor" and "The Mole."

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

Joseph C. Phillips – Joseph C. Phillips appeared on "The District" and "General Hospital" after playing Martin, Olivia's dad and Denise's husband. Phillips, who has guest-starred on "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," most recently appeared in Chris Stokes' "Boogie Town."

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Photos:'The Cosby Show': Where are they now?

Raven-Symoné – Olivia is just one of Raven-Symoné's many cheek-pinching roles. She appeared in "The Little Rascals," on "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper," in two "Doctor Dolittle" films and the TV movie "Zenon" before starring in "That's So Raven." She later headlined the short-lived "State of Georgia" and played Deloris Van Cartier in "Sister Act" on Broadway.

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Geoffrey Owens – Since playing Sondra's husband Elvin, Geoffrey Owens has guest-starred on series like "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Owens now teaches an acting class at New York City's HB Studio and recently appeared on Broadway with Orlando Bloom in a production of "Romeo and Juliet."

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Erika Alexander – Erika Alexander traded in Pam Tucker for Maxine Shaw when she started work on "Living Single" in 1993. After the show's five seasons, Alexander appeared on "Judging Amy," "Street Time" and "In Plain Sight." She most recently guest-starred on "Low Winter Sun" and "Last Man Standing."

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Earle Hyman – Earle Hyman has appeared on "All My Children," "Cosby" and "Twice in a Lifetime" since playing Cliff's dad Russell on "The Cosby Show."

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Clarice Taylor – Clarice Taylor, who played Cliff's mom Anna, appeared in "Sommersby" and "Smoke" after the series went off the air in 1992. Taylor died in 2011 at 93.

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Story highlights

Bill Cosby is set to star in a new NBC sitcom

"The Cosby Show" was a landmark family sitcom

Latest family sitcoms feature variety of family structures

Still, diversity -- of age, wealth, color -- often left out of equation, critics say

So NBC has signed Bill Cosby for a new sitcom.

The 76-year-old comedian is slated to play the patriarch of a multigenerational family, NBC told CNN on Wednesday.

A network representative did not elaborate on anything else involving the show.

No doubt, NBC is hoping this version of Cos brings back memories of his eight-year run as the gruff but warmhearted Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show" -- and not the failed gumshoe of "The Cosby Mysteries," which lasted one season in 1994-95, or the cranky retiree of "Cosby" (1996-2000), which started out strong but sank quickly in the ratings.

The return of Cosby coincides with other figures from the '80s and early '90s making their return to prime time in one way or another. Michael J. Fox has been heading a clan on "The Michael J. Fox Show" since September, and Bob Saget, Dave Coulier and John Stamos are reuniting for a yogurt commercial to air during the Super Bowl. (No word on whether the Olsen twins will be in tow.)

But nostalgia and Q scores -- those popularity measuring sticks marketers love so much -- only go so far.

Sure, Cosby is a popular guy. People still have warm feelings about the comedian, even if it's been ages since he was TV's most popular pitchman. (Don't laugh -- the man's in the Advertising Hall of Fame.)

And "The Cosby Show" was a landmark in TV sitcoms, not only showcasing a bright African-American family but leading the ratings for five straight years in the 1980s. NBC began more than a decade of dominance thanks to "Cosby's" success.

"Bill Cosby is always going to be welcomed into people's homes because of nostalgia for the Huxtables," says Amanda McClain, a communications professor at Holy Family University in Philadelphia.

The trick, however, is the show he'll be placed in.

"A famous name is itself no guarantee," wrote Time's James Poniewozik, observing that Fox's show has suffered because it's depended too heavily on memories of the lead instead of making his show interesting. "Bill Cosby, like the Jell-O he once pitched, remains a beloved brand. But if his show makes it to air, the proof will be not in the brand but in the pudding."

'Television isn't very reflective of reality'

So what might a new Cosby sitcom look like?

Probably something like America -- whatever that is these days.

After all, TV families have always reflected our culture, even if they've sometimes been a year or two behind the times.

In the 1950s, "Father Knows Best" showed off a happy nuclear family in Springfield, USA. In the 1960s, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" offered a Kennedyesque household in suburban New York. The 1970s included "The Brady Bunch," about a blended clan for a time in which divorce and second marriages were becoming commonplace. (However, divorce was still stigmatized enough that it was never revealed whether Carol Brady was a widow or a divorcee.)

In the wake of "All in the Family" and producer Norman Lear's other edgy shows, 1970s TV families took on the broader appearance of society. "Good Times" was set in a Chicago housing project; "One Day at a Time" featured a single-mother household in Indianapolis.

But TV is also nothing if not aspirational, says McClain, and Lear's unflinching sitcoms -- exceptional even in their time -- were swept aside in the 1980s.

"Television isn't very reflective of reality," she says. "There's underrepresentation of people of color, underrepresentation of many different types of people. Still today, there are very few Asian-American or Latino people on television."

Even "The Cosby Show," with its upper-class doctor and lawyer living in Brooklyn Heights, was often more aspirational than realistic, she says.

Viewers, however, apparently like aspirational.

Since the '80s, the dominant family shows have been "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties," "Home Improvement" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Two and a Half Men" and "Modern Family." Some have unusual family structures -- "Modern Family," famously, includes a gay couple, an old-young husband-wife combination and several stepchildren -- but they generally feature white clans and take place in well-off circumstances.

Though there have been several sitcoms featuring people of color or folks in working-class circumstances, about the only breakout exception has been "Roseanne," Roseanne Barr's early '90s hit, which regularly reflected genuine working-class circumstances.

"Compared to like the '70s, where you had true diversity -- 'Sanford & Son' and 'Good Times,' people of all walks of life, jobs and bank accounts -- today it's as if we've regressed in some ways," says John Griffiths, president of the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association and TV critic for Us Weekly.

He suggests one reason might be because Hollywood is somewhat insular.

"The networks try really hard at having diverse sitcom writing staffs, but there's still an issue with a lot of white guys who maybe went to Harvard and live on the west side of L.A. who write these shows," he says.

Next step: Senior citizens?

There have been some attempts to change the view on broadcast television, he points out, though new styles have struggled to catch on. "The New Normal," which featured a same-sex couple and their relationship with a surrogate and her family, was canceled after one season; "The Middle," about a middle-class family in Indiana, has plodded along, "underrated," in Griffiths' opinion.

Cable television, which has the luxury of targeting its "reality" shows -- many of which are simply sitcoms in different guise -- at specific demographics, has opted for upscale families ("Keeping Up With the Kardashians"), heartland groups ("Duck Dynasty") or a mix of flavors ("Here Comes Honey Boo Boo").

Families come in many forms on television, of course -- what was "Friends" if not about a family of sorts? -- and the next wave may include more senior citizens.

With baby boomers starting to take care of aging parents and being called "the sandwich generation," a Cosby show truly reflecting issues across generations could be a hit, says McClain, the communications professor.

Or perhaps a new Cosby show could simply focus on the elderly, Griffiths says.

"The aged are very underrepresented," he says. He observes that his group's pick for unsung TV show of the year, HBO's "Getting On," is set in an extended-care unit and includes a closeted homosexual, an African-American nurse and a variety of senior citizens. (HBO is a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN.)

"It's almost like a Norman Lear show," Griffiths says.

A Cosby show need not go that far -- it'll be on NBC, not HBO, after all -- but the lead could make of it what he wants.

"The great thing is that Cosby is at an age where he'll be playing a grandfather," Griffiths says.

All you need is one successful show to start a trend, and if a wider range of ages is shown on a TV show, it could lead to others.

After all, the ultimate family show -- even in these days of DVRs and second screens -- is watching TV, McClain says.

"Television is a family event," she says. "Families watch television together."